AI likely to sell four flats to a national bank

National carrier IndiaAir India is in the final stages of striking a deal with a leading public sector bank for selling four flats at the posh Sterling Apartments on the Peddar Road in South Mumbai.

The deal, if gets through, is expected to fetch Rs 100 crore to the carrier’s coffers, sources close to the development said.

“We are finalising the deal with the bank. We are hopeful of raising around Rs 100 crore from the sale of these four flats,” Air India sources here.

The sources, however, did not divulge the name of the bank Air India is negotiating but added, “we are negotiating with a public sector lender.”

Air India had last year floated bids for e-auctioning of the four of its six flats at the posh Sterling Apartments on the Peddar Road in South Mumbai, measuring around 8,100 sq ft carpet area.

As per the financial restructuring and turnaround plan approved by the Cabinet in early 2012 when it had bailed out the carrier with Rs 30,000 crore in doles, Air India is required to raise Rs 5,000 crore over the next 10 years through asset monetisation, and its biggest asset is the iconic Air India building in the tony Nariman Point area of the city.

Earlier, State Bank of India had lent a helping hand to the carrier in assets monetisation programme by leasing four floors in its 23-storey erstwhile headquarters at Nariman Point business centre.